Avian Flu Vaccine Test Successful in Humans

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JENNIFER LUDDEN, host:

Government researchers say for the first time they've successfully tested in humans a vaccine against the avian flu. Scientists are worried about a pandemic of the disease, and this breakthrough could be key in limiting any such outbreak. Avian flu has killed tens of millions of birds in Asia and in Russia. In the past 18 months it's also infected more than 100 humans, and it's killed about half of them. Dr. Anthony Fauci directs the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and has been overseeing the testing of this vaccine. And Dr. Fauci joins us on the line.

Welcome.

Dr. ANTHONY FAUCI (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases): Thank you.

LUDDEN: Can you tell me, first, what have you found in your testing?

Dr. FAUCI: Well, this is an H5N1 virus that was isolated from a person last year in Vietnam who had the H5N1 bird flu. We made a vaccine from that virus and tested it in the first stage in healthy, young adults less than 65 years old. And the first stage of this study has really been quite successful in that, A, it certainly appears to be safe, and, importantly, we get what we call a good dose-response curve. Namely, if you start with a lower dose and work your way up to a higher dose, you get a progressively incremental increase in the immune response, which, from the standpoint of testing vaccines, is a very good thing because that really tells you that you really do have a vaccine.

LUDDEN: Now viruses, as we know, mutate. What you've come up with here is for a certain strain of avian flu.

Dr. FAUCI: Right.

LUDDEN: But I understand that scientists are waiting and expecting for the mutation where it could transmit very rapidly among humans.

Dr. FAUCI: Right.

LUDDEN: So is it fair to say that the success with this particular vaccine then is, really, only temporary?

Dr. FAUCI: Well, yes, it may be temporary. We are totally aware of that, but you really don't have much choice. You've got to move ahead rapidly with what you have. Even if it changes substantially that you would have to modify the vaccine and use perhaps a variation of that strain, the whole process of knowing that this particular class and type of vaccine is safe--we already know now because of these studies what the most relevant dose would be and how to administer it. So all of this that's going on may be directly relevant to if we get a real pandemic flu. But even at worst, it would be very important information to guide us to getting to the vaccine that might ultimately be the real one that we use.

LUDDEN: But, obviously, you've got to have enough doses of a vaccine to make a difference and have it in the right places where there might be an outbreak. How much of this exists now, and how are you going to go about making more?

Dr. FAUCI: Well, that is an important--a very important issue. We've already ordered and have in bulk two million doses of this vaccine, and we will now be moving rapidly to develop a significant amount more. But the capacity of the vaccine industry, the global capability, is not where we want it to be to make enough vaccine that's needed.

LUDDEN: And are these two million vaccines in the US?

Dr. FAUCI: Yes, yes.

LUDDEN: And what about--how soon could this vaccine make its way to the area that's been most affected by this flu so far, which is Asia?

Dr. FAUCI: Yeah, right now we are trying to get the vaccine available to have in our own stockpile. They are not vaccinating people in Asia right now. There is not a very efficient transmissibility from person to person. Obviously, everyone is struggling to develop a vaccine. And there will be and are right now important discussions internationally among different nations to talk about the possibility of developing a global type of a stockpile that could be deployed to whatever country would need it, for example, if there were outbreaks that were showing sustained transmission from person to person.

LUDDEN: Dr. Anthony Fauci directs the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Thanks so much.

Dr. FAUCI: You're quite welcome.

LUDDEN: You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.

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